I am trying to understard why the pricing by the distributor in Delaware is some much higher for Pepsi products compared to the neighboring states like NJ and MD. A case of 20oz at 24 dollars plus seems crazy and hurts an independent C-store operator beacuse beverage is one of the main products that picks up the overall profitablity of a c-store. PLEASE enlighten me.

12-14-2006, 11:01 AM

greg

Through some of my research, and I could be wrong on this, it seems in Delaware the Pepsi distributor is independent. This could be a huge reason for the higher cost. Pepsico would charge them more for the bottling franchise/rights/syrup than if they were part of the fold such as PBG or Pepsi Americas. Moreover, the cost to do business in Delaware could be higher than neighboring states due to certain regulations and state policy(that is purely a guess). Or perhaps the bottler just invested in a new infrastructure, made capitol improvements, etc. Or maybe the bottler has figured out that the market can withstand that type of pricing and has either stayed steady at it or made the increase.
What type of margin are you trying to maintain on your soft drink sales? What about your other NA(non- alcoholic) drinks ,juice, Energy drinks, water? What type of margin do you look for on those

12-14-2006, 05:39 PM

C-Store

Thanks for the response. I am trying to be averaged at 40+% in my cold vault. On enery we are retailing most of the coke/pepsi for about 2.39 and my laid in on those is about 18.75 for a 12 pack. Which is about the 34% range.